No Ordinary Man 2 (sample material)

I’LL NEVER BE ABLE TO SAY WHAT IT MEANT TO ME

Reading
After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other
Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the
Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance
was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and
became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; I know that you
are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said.
Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, “He has been raised
from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.” This
is my message for you.’ So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell
his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came to him, took
hold of his feet, and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell
my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’ Matthew 28:1-10

The meditation of Mary Magdalene
I’ll never be able to say what it meant to me,
after the horror and the heartache,
the darkness and the despair,
to hear that wonderful, astonishing news –
Jesus, alive!
I’d lived in a daze until then,
unable to take in the horror of what I’d seen,
the anguish and the agony which he’d borne
with such quiet dignity and awesome courage.
He’d warned us to expect the worst,
and I suppose in our hearts we’d known what was coming
but we’d refused to accept it,
hoping against hope there might be some other way,
a path less costly, less awful for us all.
But as we walked that morning to the tomb,
all such thoughts were gone,
buried along with our Lord,
life dark, cold, empty,
bereft of meaning.
We were blind to everything in our grief,
scarcely aware even of the ground starting to shake
or light flooding around us,
but when we reached the stone, rolled away from the tomb,
we saw that all right,
and for a moment we just stood there gazing in confusion,
not knowing where to turn or what to say.
That’s when it came, the news that took our breath away:
‘He is not here.
He has been raised.
Come, see the place where he lay.’
We scarcely dared to look at first, afraid it might all be a dream,
but finally we found the courage,
and it was true,
he was gone! –
just the grave clothes left to show he’d been there.
You can imagine how we felt,
our hearts pounding with excitement;
but there was more to come,
things yet more wonderful,
for even as we ran to tell the news,
skipping with sheer delight,
we saw him ahead of us –
Jesus, the man we knew and loved,
arms outstretched in welcome,
waiting to greet us in his old familiar way.
He had risen, just as we’d been told,
death unable to hold him!
Only it wasn’t just Jesus who rose that day,
it was all of us:
for there in the garden life began again,
life which we thought had died in us for ever –
hope reborn,
faith renewed,
love rekindled,
joy restored –
and we knew now these could never be destroyed –
the proof was there before us!

Prayer
Gracious God,
through the resurrection of your Son
you not only raised him to life;
you brought also renewal and restoration
to his broken disciples.
From the depths of misery you brought jubilation;
from the pit of despair you brought hope;
from the trough of doubt you brought faith.
Life which had seemed without meaning
suddenly pulsated with purpose again,
the future rich with promise as never before.
It is a miracle which has been re-enacted
in countless lives across the centuries
and which continues to be repeated today;
for you are at work still in the world and in our own lives,
reaching out wherever there is need,
wherever people are broken,
wherever hope has died,
bringing afresh your gift of life.
Gracious God, work within us now,
refresh our hearts and revive our spirits,
and make us a new creation;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.